Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Train Guy]

Obviously you didn't read this, #msg-3026389. It's a long but fascinating read. It helped explain for me what and why the futures exchanges exist. Why some are necessary for the smooth running of commerce and others only exist because of government shenanigans. And it clarified what is speculation and a legitimate profession, and what is just pure gambling. If you are going to invest in the PMs, it not only is a must read, but you have to understand it.

Two important words to know, backwardation and contango. They're basically the reverse of each other and just tell you if the current cash price is higher or lower than the futures price. The futures price is of course just the price that you can get somebody to agree to sell you something at in the future.